Monday, 30 July 2012

vCenter Orchestrator (vCO)
is a workflow based automation tool that is used to automate each action in
vCenter. The workflow defines the sequence of events which will be implemented.
Its similar to defining a flow chart which will run as automated script.

vCO
is installed as part of vCenter installation, however, you need to configure it
in order to start using it. Therefore, vCenter and vCO are both running on the
same server Windows 2008 x64 R2. In addition vCO requires separate LDAP server
as well as backend Database (this should be separate from vCenter DB). You can
use VMware HCL to check the supported LDAPs and DBs.

vCO Initial Configuration Steps

Step 1 In vCO server, start VMware vCenter Orchestrator Configuration
service by navigating to windows services console (Start > Run >
services.msc). By default, this service is set to Manual and Stopped.

Step 3 Once login is successful, you will find
that all options in the left pane are red, i.e. non of them is configured.
Start with configuring Network. You need
to select the IP address where vCO will be listening (leave all default port
numbers).

You
need to define User Lookup Base which
will define the locations to search for users when authenticating against AD.
Similarly Group Lookup Base should be
configured.

You
need to configure vCO Admin Group (e.g.
cn=Administrators,cn=Users,dc=vmware,dc=com). This is important to
define the admins which are having read/write access to workflows. When a user
is trying to login to vCO Client, he needs to authenticate against AD. In case
the group where the user resides is matching vCO
Admin Group, he will be considered as vCO admin, else read-only access
to workflow is granted.

Step 5 After you setup your DB server, you need
to configure vCODatabase section. I have used the same MSSQL 2008 Express which is
installed during vCenter Server installation. Using SQL Management Studio, I
have created new DB called vCO_DB. Here are the properties of the DB

Based
on my DB I have configured vCO DB as
follow:

After
submitting the changes, you need to click the
Install Database link to install the database tables that vCenter
Orchestrator needs in your DB server.

Step 6 In Server
Certificate section, you can either create self-signed certificate or
Import a valid certificate. This will be used by vCO client to connect to vCO
server.

Step 7 You need to import vCenter SSL
certificate into vCO in order to establish a secure connection. From vCenter Server tab select SSL Certificate link and import vCenter certificate
from the following location C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware
VirtualCenter\SSL\rui.crt.

Step 8 Although vCO and vCenter are installed
on same server, they don't share the license automatically. Here you need to apply vCenter Lic by
supplying the details of vCenter Server to connect (IP, username, password, lic
path, etc) or you can import vCenter Lic manually.

Note: Based on vCenter Lic, vCO
will operate in two modes:

For a vCenter Server Standard license, vCenter Orchestrator
operates in Server mode. This provides full access to all Orchestrator
elements and the ability to run and edit workflows.

For a vCenter Server Foundation or vCenter Server Essentials
license, vCenter Orchestrator runs in Player mode. You are granted
read-only permission on Orchestrator elements, and you can run workflows,
but you cannot edit them.

Step 9 You need to configure Plugins Tab in order to get vCO working. You
need to select which plugins to enable and supply a username/password from LDAP
which resides in vCO Admin Group.

Plugins
are used to add extra functionalities to workflow engine in vCO (similar to
snap-in in PowerCLI)

Step 10 In this step will be adding vCenter
Server to vCO in order to control and automate. This is done from vCenter Server tab. You need to supply vCenter
Server details including IP, username, and password.

Step 11 As a last step, navigate to Startup Options tab and click Install vCO Server As a Service link. Once
completed click Start Service link.